Printing may involve a plurality of steps. For example, in order to see what a document will look like when printed, a user may have to print the document and view it. If the user is satisfied with the printout, the process is complete. However, if the user is not satisfied, the user goes back to the application, makes changes to the document and prints again. Some applications allow a user to view the print version in a “print preview” mode in which an application presents a view of a printed page as it is to be printed. If the user is satisfied with the presentation of the information, the user may print. However, if the user is not satisfied with the presentation, the user gets out of the “print preview” mode and returns to the document editing mode to make changes. These iterative processes may continue until the user is satisfied with the presentation of the information.
Often a user of a document of large page dimensions such as a large format drawing may desire to print one area of a page on letter-size paper. This may also involve a plurality of steps and dialog boxes. For example, the user positions the appropriate section in the document to the active window of an application. The user selects the “print” menu item to access the printing functions, selects print “current view”, selects the “print” button, and views the printout. However, all the desired information may not be printed on the page or there may be large sections of the paper unused. The user goes back to the application in editing mode, repositions the document, perhaps modifies margins, text, or zoom level and reprints. To reprint, the user selects the “print” menu item again, selects print “current view” again, and selects the “print” button again. This process may continue until the user is satisfied. In another scenario the user performs a “marquee select”. That is the user highlights the desired portion of the large page, to indicate their print selection ensuring all the desired information is included. However, this printout may not be what the user expected in terms of size of drawing, white space, or paper size. That is, the aspect ratio of the marquee select used to select the portion of drawing may not have matched the selected paper size, resulting in large areas of the paper remaining unused and/or the scale being unacceptable. The user returns to the application to try again. The user may return the application to indicate a different size selection box so that less white space is included in the printout. To reprint, the user may select the “view” menu item again, selects print “current view” again, and selects the “print” button again or perform another marquee select. In some embodiments, the user may create multiple prints of the same scale and paper size for multiple portions of the large drawing. These iterative processes may frustrate a user trying to obtain the desired information on a single sheet of paper.
Further, there seems to be a disconnect between the options available in a print dialog box and the options accessible by a printer's “properties” dialog box. For example, in many applications the paper size selection is located in the “page setup” features of the document or content. Therefore, if the user selects print and the printer's page size setting is not set to the desired size, the printout may not be the desired size. The user would have to access a second dialog box to change the page size. Having printing settings scattered in these various locations is neither efficient nor user friendly.
Thus, what is needed is a printing interface without the limitations of conventional techniques.